The Years Before Us
by Messrsmoony
Summary: Harry goes to collect the body of Severus Snape ... but what happens when he finds out that it is not there? Has Snape gone very far?
1. Prologue

**The Years Before Us**

Prologue

Harry felt ashamed. More ashamed than he had in a long, long time. Possiblyl more ashamed than he had ever felt in his entire life. It had been three days since the final battle. Three long days of tending to the injured, the dead and celebrating their victory. Not that Harry had done much celebrating.

But somehow Harry, along with everyone else, had forgotten one very important detail.

The collection of Severus Snape's body.

Harry crawled through the tight tunnel towards the Shrieking Shack, filled with more dread than he had facing Voldemort himself.

He reached the end of the tunnel and climbed out before he stood up. He dreaded seeing Snape again, but it had to be done.

"Harry." Harry nearly jumped at the sound of the familiar voice.

"Hermione?" He asked, confused by her presense.

"I'm going to help you." Hermione said crawling out of the tunnel. Harry sighed and nodded. As much as he didn't want Hermione to see Snape like that again, he needed her support.

They made their way to the room where they knew Snape's body lay.

"Harry ..." Hermione said looking at the giant pool of blood. Snapes body was ...

Gone.

TBC ... Please R&R tell me what you think. Short little prologue to get the story started.


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N - **

Duj - I could still be considered a pool of blood, though it should have said dry pool of blood. We all know what I meant. LoL

StandUponPoints - Thank you, I'm glad you like and I will be continuing it

HorcruxesandHallows - Sorry, no mass revivals or reincarnations ... sorry ... but I can promise you will enjoy ... or at the least have something to complain to me about ... ;)

**TO ALL - **Thank you for all the Reviews, it's what keeps the chapters coming! I appologize about the long wait, but I had twisted my ankle and had been bed ridden for almost 4 days :( But I will be working on this more now that I'm back at work as that is when I work on them.

o0o0o

**The Years Before Us**

Chapter 1

"Gone? Harry ... he ... he's gone!" Hermione said looking at the dried stain of blood on the floor. "Do you think that the Death Eaters got him first?"

Harry closed his eyes. He severily hoped not. Who knows what kinds of humiliation they would put him through. Or his body through. Even though he was dead, he did not deserve that. He deserved a proper-

Harry's train of thought stopped suddenly as a loud thud echoed from upstairs. Both Hermione and Harry jumped and looked upwards as dust fell from the ceiling. Harry pulled out his wand, Hermione doing the same as they moved towards the stairs.

"Who do you-"

"Shhh." Harry said to Hermione, slowly creeping up the stairs, wishing that he had his invisibility cloak on him. Hermione stopped talking at once and followed close by, both of them trying not to make the stairs creak. They paused half way up the stairs. They could hear someone running on the floor upstairs. Quick frantic shuffles followed by the creek of a door.

Harry looked back at Hermione before they slowly made their way the rest of the way up the stairs. Harry looked around the dim upstairs, listening to where the ... thing ... as they did not neccessarily know it was a person ... was hiding. Harry nodded towards the door that was above the room where Snape had died. Where the thud had come from. Hermione nodded and followed Harry to the door. Harry readied his wand, and slowly pushed the door open.

There was no one inside. Or at least, no one they could see. Harry was about to move out of the room again when something caught his attention. Something that should not be there, that he hadn't noticed before.

Between one of the closets and the wall, was a foot. A small quivering foot. Harry put his wand away and crouched down low, slowly approaching the foot that was peaking out. He heard a small squeek and the foot tried to hid itself. Harry smiled slightly.

"It's okay." He said. "We're not going to hurt you." He said holding his hand out gentally. He couldn't see who was there. But by the looks of it, it seemed to be a small child. "How did you get in here? It's okay." He said trying to wave the child out. He could see the faint light glistening off the boys small eyes, but could see nothing else in the darkness of the corner. "We're not going to hurt you. Are you hungry?" He asked. Harry dug in his pockets. He had to have something. He found a muggle granola bar in his pocket, half crushed but still edible. He opened the bar and held it out to the child.

The child ignored him for a moment before he cautiously, slowly ... reluctantly came out of the corner. The boy had short black hair and black sunken eyes. His right eye had a large bruise over it as well as his slim pale jaw. He seemed to be swimming in some kind of large black material and was covered in blood.

The child slowly crawled towards him, almost near enough to take the food, but still out of Harry's reach. The child seemed almost reluctant to go near him.

"I think he's afraid of you." Hermione said, slowly moving forward next to Harry. She took the bar from Harry and crouched down a bit lower than he had been. She held out the bar to the child as Harry backed away. The child kept his eyes on Harry but slowly moved towards Hermione to take the bar. "Who do you think he is?" Hermione asked Harry. The child slowly took bites of the bar, though did not take his eyes off Harry.

"I don't know. He doesn't look that old." Harry said shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Can you talk?" Hermione asked. She couldn't tell if he was old enough to talk yet. The child looked at her, before looking back at Harry. "He seems to understand when I'm talking to him. Can you tell me how old you are?" Hermione asked.

This time the boy looked at her and didn't turn away. He held up his fingers, but she couldn't tell if it was two or three as he was having trouble either keeping one digit up, or down, she couldn't tell which.

"You're two?" Harry asked. The boy looked back at him but didn't say anything.

"Are you two?" Hermione asked again. The boy nodded but didn't look away from Harry again. "Can you say your name?" She asked. The boy moved towards Hermione again, seeming to trust her a bit more than Harry. He was scared, that was for sure. Harry looked a bit closer at the odd black material he was wearing.

"Severus?" Harry asked. The boy looked at Harry when the name was spoken. He seemed even more frightened that the man knew his name. "Is your name Severus Snape?" Hermione slowly leaned foward and picked the boy up gently. As soon as she did, a blue light erupted from Hermione and into the boy. The boy looked up at her a little startled at the light. But he didn't seem afraid of it.

"Is your name Severus Snape?" She asked. It would make sense, as to where his body went, and the scuff marks in the blood. Just how long had he been here like this? Those marks where made when the blood was still fresh. The boy looked at her and nodded as he clung to her neck. She put her hand on his back to support him and cringed.

"Harry, he's burning up. I think he's sick." The boy ... er ... Severus, did look awefully red in the face down to his neck. "We should get him back to Hogwarts. Madam Pomfrey will be able to make him better."

Harry nodded. "How are we going to get him through the tunnel? We can barely fit through the tunnel ourselves." Hermione looked at him annoyed.

"Are you a wizard or aren't you?" She asked. She lifted the up into her arms and made her way down the stairs. The boy didn't seem to mind as he clung to her neck.

TBC ... Anyway here's the first chapter ... hope you all like ... please R&R ... what do you think? Who do you think should take care of him? tell me things! I like things! lol ... hopefully longer chapters to come ...


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